Remote call monitoring

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided for monitoring calls routed to a telephone network voice mail system from a variety of remote telephone locations. When a subscriber receives a telephone call, a determination is made as to whether the subscriber&#39;s line is busy or whether the call goes unanswered. If remote call monitoring services are activated, a three-way communication is set up between the calling party, the voice mail system and the subscriber via a remote call monitoring directory number provided by the subscriber. The subscriber is patched into the call on a listen-only basis, but upon command by the subscriber, the subscriber may answer the call. The subscriber may set up a number of remote call monitoring filters, including an “always monitor” list, a “never monitor” list, and a schedule of days or times during which the subscriber allows or excludes remote call monitoring. Remote call monitoring services may be provided by a telephone services provider that is independent from the subscriber&#39;s home telephone services provider.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates generally to methods and systems formonitoring calls routed to a voice mail system from a variety of remotetelephone locations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A common use for telephone answering machines is call screeningor call monitoring. In a typical setting, the user of a telephoneanswering machine may set the answering machine so that the user maylisten to incoming messages as they are being recorded on the answeringmachine. If the user recognizes the voice of the caller and would liketo speak with the caller, the user may answer the call. On the otherhand, if the user does not recognize the caller, or if the userotherwise does not want to take the call, the user simply may allow thecaller to finish recording the message. This call screening or callmonitoring ability is particularly useful to avoid unwanted telephonesolicitations.

[0003] Many modern telephone systems include network-based voice mailsystems to which incoming calls are routed when the voice mail systemuser's telephone is busy or is not answered. In such systems incomingcallers are routed directly to the voice mail system if the user'stelephone is busy or is unanswered. That is, the call is not routedthrough the user's telephone where he or she may listen to the voicemail message being recorded by the caller in order to screen or monitorthe call. The user must simply wait until the message has been recordedby the caller and then call into the voice mail system to retrieve themessage. Moreover, if the user is away from the user's telephone at aremote location, the user has no way of knowing that a message has beenleft for the user other than to call into the voice mail system fromtime to time to check for voice mail messages.

[0004] It is with respect to these and other considerations that thepresent invention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] In accordance with the present invention, the above and otherproblems are solved by methods and systems for monitoring calls routedto a telephone network voice mail system from a variety of remotetelephone locations. A subscriber to voice mail services contacts hertelephone services provider to request remote call monitoring services.Once the subscriber is validated as an authorized subscriber, thesubscriber may activate remote call monitoring services and set avariety of remote call monitoring filters. The subscriber provides thetelephone directory number of the wire line or wireless telephone withwhich she would like to monitor incoming voice mail messages. Thus, thesubscriber may monitor calls to the voice mail system remotely from anytelephone for which she provides the telephone directory number.

[0006] The subscriber may select a remote call monitoring filter tomonitor all voice mail calls. The subscriber may select a filter tomonitor only calls associated with a list of telephone directory numbersprovided by the subscriber. The subscriber may select a filter tomonitor all calls except calls associated with a list of telephonedirectory numbers provided by the subscriber. Or, the subscriber may setup a remote call monitoring schedule whereby the subscriber onlymonitors calls directed to the voice mail system during a prescribedperiod of time set.

[0007] After remote call monitoring setup is complete, the subscribermay monitor or screen incoming voice mail messages from the telephoneassociated with the remote call monitoring directory number provided bythe subscriber. When the subscriber receives a telephone call, adetermination is made as to whether the subscriber's line is busy orwhether the call goes unanswered. In either case, a network element suchas a service control point determines whether the remote call monitoringservice is activated for the subscriber's line. If so, a determinationis made as to whether the caller identification for the incoming call isincluded on a list of telephone directory numbers requiring that theincoming call should always be monitored, or conversely, requiring thatthe call should not be monitored. If the incoming call is a call thatshould be monitored according to the remote call monitoring filtersselected by the subscriber, a determination is made as to whether thecall is being received during a time period in which the subscriber hasprovided for remote call monitoring, or during a time period in whichthe subscriber has excluded remote call monitoring.

[0008] If remote call monitoring is appropriate for the incoming callerand for the time period in which the incoming call is received, thenetwork element retrieves the remote call monitoring telephone directorynumber provided by the subscriber. The network element then routes thecall to a separate network element such as a services node and includeswith the routed call the originally dialed telephone directory number,the voice mail system access number, and the remote call monitoringtelephone directory number. The network element, such as the servicesnode, then establishes a three-way conference call between the incomingcaller, the voice mail system and the subscriber in a listen-only mode.In order to set up the three-way conference call, the network element,such as the services node, places a call to the subscriber at the remotecall monitoring telephone directory number so that the subscriber mayanswer and listen to the voice mail message being recorded by theincoming caller. If desired, a distinctive ring may be provided to thesubscriber to allow the subscriber to readily ascertain that the call isassociated with the remote call monitoring service. Additionally, thetelephone directory number of the network element and a caller nameidentification such as “remote call monitoring service” may be providedin the caller identification screen of the subscriber's telephone.

[0009] While the subscriber is listening to the incoming voice mailmessage, the subscriber may selectively interrupt the voice mailrecording session and accept the call from the incoming caller. If thesubscriber chooses to accept the incoming call, the network element,such as the services node, routes the incoming call to the subscriber atthe remote call monitoring telephone directory number provided by thesubscriber.

[0010] According to another aspect of the present invention, remote callmonitoring may be provided to a subscriber whose telephone servicesprovider is independent of the telephone services provider that providesthe remote call monitoring services. The independent call monitoringsubscriber contacts her telephone services provider (home servicesprovider) to request that remote call monitoring services be provided bya separate telephone services provider. The subscriber provides thetelephone directory number of the wireline or wireless telephone withwhich she would like to monitor incoming voice mail messages. Thesubscriber provides her home services provider with directory numbersthat will forward calls received by the subscriber to the separatetelephone services provider (independent call monitoring servicesprovider) for provision of call monitoring services when thesubscriber's wireline or wireless telephone is busy or is not answered.In response, the subscriber's telephone service provider provisions atrigger on the subscriber's wireline or wireless switch to invokeindependent remote call monitoring services of the separate telephoneservice provider when a call is placed to the subscriber when thesubscriber's line is busy or not answered. In addition, the subscribermay select from the remote call monitoring filters, described above.

[0011] When the independent remote call monitoring subscriber receives atelephone call at her wireline or wireless switch when the subscriber'sline is busy or not answered, a call is placed from the home servicesprovider to the independent call monitoring services provider forreceiving the independent remote call monitoring services of theindependent call monitoring services provider. At the independent callmonitoring services provider, a database lookup is performed to validatethe subscriber's access to the independent remote call monitoringservices and to obtain an access number for the subscriber's voice mailsystem at her home services provider. The subscriber's originally dialedtelephone directory number and the subscriber's home voice mail systemaccess number are routed to a network element, such as a services node,of the independent call monitoring services provider.

[0012] A network element, such as the services node, then establishes athree way conference call between the incoming caller, the subscriber'shome voice mail system, and the subscriber in a listen-only mode. Inorder to set up the three way conference call, the network element, suchas the services node, places a call to the subscriber at thesubscriber's remote call monitoring telephone directory number so thatthe subscriber may answer and listen to the voice mail message beingrecorded by the incoming caller. If desired, a distinctive ring may beprovided to the subscriber to allow the subscriber to readily ascertainthat the call is associated with the independent remote call monitoringservice. Additionally, the telephone directory number of the networkelement and a caller name identification such as “independent remotecall monitoring service” may be provided in the caller identificationscreen of the subscriber's telephone.

[0013] While the subscriber is listening to the incoming voice mailmessage, the subscribed may selectively interrupt the voice mailrecording session and accept the call from the incoming caller. If thesubscriber chooses to accept the incoming caller, the network element,such as the services node, routes the incoming call to the subscriber atthe independent remote call monitoring telephone directory numberprovided by the subscriber.

[0014] These and other features and advantages, which characterize thepresent invention, will be apparent from a reading of the followingdetailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is tobe understood that both the foregoing general description and thefollowing detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only andare not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015]FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating components of awire line and wireless communications network that provides an operatingenvironment for the present invention.

[0016]FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a logical flow of the steps performed bya method system of the present invention for activating and/ordeactivating a remote call monitoring service according to theembodiment of the invention.

[0017]FIG. 4 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for remotely monitoring callsrouted to a network-based voice mail system.

[0018]FIG. 5 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring calls directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is on a listof calling parties to be monitored.

[0019]FIG. 6 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is not on alist of calling parties to be monitored by a subscriber.

[0020]FIG. 7 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is on a listof calling parties that should not be monitored by the subscriber.

[0021]FIG. 8 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is not on alist of calling parties designated by the subscriber that should not bemonitored.

[0022]FIG. 9 illustrates a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the monitoring of calls directedto the voice mail system is dictated by a remote call monitoringschedule provided by the subscriber.

[0023]FIG. 10 illustrates a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for remotely monitoring a calldirected to a network-based voice mail system filtered based on whethercalls directed to the subscriber are forwarded on a “busy” status orwhether calls directed to the subscriber are forwarded on a “notanswered” status.

[0024]FIG. 11 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a relationshipbetween a home telephone services provider and an independent callmonitoring services provider for providing remote call monitoringservices to a subscriber of the home telephone services provider.

[0025]FIG. 12 illustrates a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod and system of the present invention for remotely monitoring acall directed to a network-based voice mail system of a subscriber'shome telephone services provider where the remote call monitoringservice is provided by an independent call monitoring services provider,separate from the subscriber's home telephone services provider.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The following description of embodiments of the present inventionis made with reference to the above-described drawings wherein likenumerals refer to like parts or components throughout the severalfigures. The present invention is directed to methods and systems formonitoring calls routed to a voice mail system from a variety of remotetelephone locations.

[0027] Operating Environment

[0028]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of a wirelineand wireless telephone network that provides an exemplary operatingenvironment for the present invention. The public switched telephonenetwork 110 that evolved in the 1980s incorporated the advancedintelligent network (AIN). Some of the components of the advancedintelligent network are illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is illustrative ofat least a part of the advanced intelligent network (AIN) of a typicallocal exchange carrier integrated with components of a wireless network150. The advanced intelligent network (AIN) uses the signaling system 7(SS7) network for signal or system control message transport. Thecomponents thereof are well known to those skilled in the art. Theoperation of many of the components of the advanced intelligent networkis also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,719 to Weisser entitled“Mediation of Open Advanced Intelligent Network Interface by SharedExecution Environment” which is incorporated herein by reference. TheSS7 communications protocol is provided in the document entitled “BellCommunications Research Specification of Signaling System 7,” DocumentTR-NWT-000246, Issue 2 (June 1991), plus Revision 1 (December 1991),which is also incorporated herein by reference.

[0029] A plurality of central offices are provided in a typical publicswitched telephone network 110. As shown in FIG. 1, each central officemay include an electronic switch known to those skilled in the art as aservice switching point (SSP). These are indicated in FIG. 1 as SSPswitches 112, 114 and 116. The number of SSP switches depends on thenumber of subscribers to be served by the public switched telephonenetwork. An SSP is the AIN component of a typical electronic centraloffice switch used by a local exchange carrier. The terms “SSP” and“switch” are used interchangeably hereinafter and are understood torefer to a telecommunications switch having AIN capability and which maybe utilized for connecting voice channel circuits, including voicechannel lines, such as the trunk circuit 130.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 1, switches (SSP) 112, 114, and 116 have aplurality of subscriber lines 118 and 120 connected thereto. Each of thesubscriber lines 118 and 120 is connected to a terminating piece orpieces of customer premises equipment that are represented by telephones121 and 124. SSP switches 112 and 114 are connected by a plurality oftrunk circuits 130. These are the voice path trunks that interconnectthe central offices 112 and 114 and over which calls are connected whencompleted.

[0031] Each piece of terminating equipment in the PSTN is preferablyassigned a directory number. The term “directory number” is used hereinin a manner consistent with its generally understood meaning of a numberthat is dialed or input by an originating party at an originatingstation to reach a terminating station associated with the directorynumber. A directory number, typically a ten digit number, is commonlyreferred to as a “telephone number” and may be assigned to a specifictelephone line, such as the telephone line 118 shown in FIG. 1.

[0032] Much of the intelligence, and the basis for many of the enhancedfeatures of the network, resides in the local service control point(SCP) 142. As is known to those skilled in the art, service controlpoints, such as the SCP 42, are physically implemented by relativelypowerful fault tolerant computers. Among the functions performed by theservice control points is maintenance of network databases used inproviding enhanced services. Service control points, such as SCP 142,normally implement high volume routing services, such as call forwardingand 800 number translation and routing. They are also used formaintenance of and providing access to high volume databases forauthorization of billing, such as credit card number validations. Inmost local exchange carrier networks, service control points are onlyused for data base look up and routing services that take place prior tothe logical completion of the call, i.e., the provision of a ringingsignal to the called subscriber line and ring back to the callingsubscriber.

[0033] The modern Advanced Intelligent Network also includes servicesnodes (SN) such as the services node 158. Those skilled in the art arefamiliar with services nodes, which are physically implemented by thesame types of computers that embody the SCP 142. In addition to thecomputing capability and data base maintenance features, services nodes158 use ISDN lines and may include DTMF signal recognition devices, tonegeneration devices, text to speech (TTS) voice synthesis devices andother voice or data resources. As shown in FIG. 1, the connection isthrough the SSP. For example, SN 158 is connected to SCP 142 via ISDNlinks 153 to SSP 112, ISDN/SS7 protocol conversion in SSP 112, and SS7links 138. According to a preferred embodiment, the ISDN links 153 serveas a primary rate interface (PRI) over which services may be provided tosubscribers using wireline services such as the wireline telephone sets121 and 124 and subscribers using wireless services such as the wirelessunits.

[0034] The voice mail system 165 is shown in FIG. 1 being functionallyconnected to the switch 116 and is a component of the network. That is,calls are routed to and from the voice mail system 165 at the controland direction of the network via such components as the SCP 142. Thevoice mail system 165 may be connected to the switch 116 via a PRIinterface line 137 similar to the connection of the services node 158 tothe switch 114. In operation, the voice mail system 165 is treated likea switch 114 whereby calls directed to voice mail boxes maintained atthe voice mail system 165 are directed to the voice mail system 165 ascalls are directed to customer premises equipment, such as telephones,via switches 112, 114.

[0035] The voice mail system 165 typically includes a computer orcollection of computers, recording and recording playback devices, andsoftware for recording announcements for incoming calls, recording andplaying back recorded messages, and for receiving incoming calls and formaking outgoing calls at the direction of the network. In addition tothe recording and playback functionality, the voice mail system 165includes text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT) synthesis devicesand software for conversion of analog voice messages to digitized formssuch as WAV files and MP3 files. The voice mail system 165 has memorycapacity for saving announcements to incoming callers and for savingmessages from incoming callers.

[0036] The wireless network 150, such as a cellular network, comprises amobile switching center (MSC) 152. The MSC is a switch providingservices and coordination between wireless users in the network 150 andexternal networks. The MSC also communicates with a wireless subscriber,such as wireless telephone. The wireless telephone 155 is alsoillustrative of other wireless computing devices, such as pagers andpersonal digital assistants.

[0037] In operation, the intelligent network elements of the AIN, asdescribed above, communicate with each other via digital data messagestransmitted over the network of digital data links. An SSP may beconfigured to interface with these network elements through the use of atrigger. A trigger in the network is an event associated with aparticular subscriber line or call that causes the SSP to generate adata packet message to be sent to a service control point. In order tokeep the processing of data and calls as simple and generic as possibleat central office switches, such as SSP switches 112 and 114, arelatively small set of triggers are defined at the SSP switches foreach call.

[0038] The message created by an SSP in response to the “firing” of atrigger is known as a “query” message. A query message opens a“transaction” and the SSP generally holds the communication until itreceives a reply from an appropriate network element via the network ofdigital data links instructing the SSP 112 to take a certain action. Ifthe SSP 112 receives no instructions within a certain amount of time,the SSP “times-out” and executes a default task for the communication.The reply to the query message may be a “conversation” message or a“response” message. Conversation messages allow for bi-directionalexchanges between network elements while the transaction remains open. A“response” message closes the transaction opened by the query message,and usually instructs the SSP to route the held communication forconnection with a terminating station. Query messages, conversationmessages, and response messages are standard types of messages definedby the AIN protocol. The details of the AIN protocol are well known tothose skilled in the art and will not be further described herein. Formore information regarding the AIN protocol, see Bellcore SpecificationGR-1298-CORE Switching Systems Generic Requirements for AIN 0.1, whichis incorporated herein by reference.

[0039] Operation

[0040] Having described an operating environment for the presentinvention with reference to FIG. 1, the following is a description ofthe logical flow of steps performed by methods and systems of thepresent invention for activating and deactivating a remote callmonitoring service according to the present invention. Also describedare the logical flows of steps performed by methods and systems of thepresent invention for monitoring calls routed to a network-based voicemail system according to a variety of remote call monitoring servicefilter settings.

[0041]FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a logical flow of the steps performed bya method system of the present invention for activating and/ordeactivating a remote call monitoring service according to theembodiment of the invention. The method 200 begins at start step 205 andproceeds to step 210 where a subscriber contacts her telephone servicesprovider to provision remote call monitoring services on her telephoneline 120. According to one embodiment of the present invention thesubscriber may contact the telephone services provider via her telephone124 using a feature code such as “*12” for allowing the subscriberaccess to the remote call monitoring services for activating the remotecall monitoring service on her telephone line. According to analternative embodiment, the subscriber may contact the telephoneservices provider via an Internet-based website operated by thetelephone services provider for allowing subscribers to access servicessuch as the remote call monitoring services of the present invention viaa personal computer (not shown).

[0042] At step 210, the subscriber is validated as being authorized toactivate or deactivate the remote call monitoring service by requiring avalidation identification such as a pass code from the subscriber. Atstep 215, the subscriber's switch 114 queries the service control point142 for the current status of the remote call monitoring service. Inresponse, an announcement may be played to the subscriber such as“remote call monitoring is on, or remote call monitoring is off.”Likewise, the status of remote call monitoring service filters may beprovided to the subscriber by playing an announcement such as “remotecall monitoring is activated for all calls.” Additionally, anannouncement may be played to identify the current remote callmonitoring telephone directory number such as “voice mail is beingmonitored on telephone directory number 404-555-1234.”

[0043] At step 220, a menu of options is provided to the subscriber toallow the subscriber to edit the current operating status of the remotecall monitoring service on her telephone line. At step 225, thesubscriber may turn the remote call monitoring service on or off inresponse to a message such as “to activate the remote call monitoringservice, press 1.” At step 230, the subscriber is prompted to enter aremote call monitoring telephone directory number. The remote callmonitoring telephone directory number is the telephone directory numberof the telephone from which the subscriber will monitor calls directedto the voice mail system 165. That is, the remote call monitoring numbermay be the telephone directory number of the subscriber's telephone 124,the subscriber's wireless telephone 155, or any other telephone operatedby the subscriber at any remote location.

[0044] At step 235, the subscriber is prompted to set up remote callmonitoring filters. At step 240, a determination is made at to whetherthe subscriber desires to edit the current remote call monitoring filtersettings. If not, the method proceeds back to step 220, and thesubscriber may choose from other options, as described above. If thesubscriber does desire to set remote call monitoring filters, the methodproceeds to step 245, illustrated in FIG. 3. At step 245, the subscriberchooses the filter type she wishes to select or deselect.

[0045] If the subscriber desires that all calls directed to the voicemail system 165 be monitored by the subscriber at the remote callmonitoring number, the method proceeds to step 250 and calls directed tothe voice mail system 165 are selected for monitoring whether thesubscriber's line 120 is busy, unanswered, and regardless of theidentity of the calling party. At step 255, the subscriber may select aremote call monitoring filter that will cause only calls directed to thevoice mail system 165 upon a busy status of the subscriber's line 120 tobe directed to the subscriber via the remote call monitoring telephonedirectory number.

[0046] At step 260, the subscriber may create a list of calling partiesby calling party telephone directory number that should always bemonitored. At step 265, the subscriber may edit the list of calleridentification numbers by adding or deleting caller identificationnumbers to or from the list. At step 270, the updated list of calleridentification numbers on the “always monitored” list is forwarded tothe service control point 142 for subsequent use. The “always monitor”list may be a list of telephone directory numbers associated withincoming callers for whom the subscriber would always like theopportunity to monitor voice mail messages. For example, the subscribermay wish to add the telephone directory number of a close relative orbusiness associate so that incoming calls directed to the voice mailsystem 165 from that caller will always be directed to the remote callmonitoring number provided by the subscriber.

[0047] At step 275, the subscriber may select and edit a list of calleridentification numbers associated with incoming callers that shouldnever be monitored. At step 280, the subscriber may edit the list byadding or deleting caller identification numbers to or from the list. Atstep 285, the updated list of caller identification numbers from the“never monitor” list is forwarded to the service control point 142 forfuture use. The “never monitor” list may include telephone directorynumbers of incoming callers from whom the subscriber may never wish tohave voice mail messages directed to the remote call monitoring number.For example, the subscriber may designate on the “never monitor” listall calls identified as “out of area” which are known to be associatedwith unwanted telephone solicitation calls. Accordingly, such calls willnever be directed to the remote call monitoring number provided by thesubscriber unless and until the subscriber changes the “never monitor”list filter setting or until the subscriber edits the “never monitor”list to allow previously excluded calls to be directed to the remotecall monitoring number.

[0048] At step 290, the subscriber may set up a remote call monitoringschedule including time periods in which the subscriber would like tomonitor calls directed to the voice mail system 165. For example, thesubscriber may enter a start time of 8:00 a.m. and a stop time of 11:00a.m. because the subscriber knows that between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.the subscriber will be away from her office and she would like tomonitor calls directed to the voice mail system 165 via her wirelesstelephone 155. Likewise, the subscriber may enter a start day of Mondayand a stop day of Wednesday if the subscriber would like to monitorcalls directed to the voice mail system 165 during the three-day periodbetween Monday and Wednesday. At step 295, the subscriber edits thecurrent monitoring schedule including keeping the current monitoringschedule, changing the current monitoring schedule, or deleting thecurrent monitoring schedule altogether. At step 298, the updated remotecall monitoring schedule is forwarded to the service control point 142for future use.

[0049]FIG. 4 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod and system of the present invention for remotely monitoring callsrouted to a network-based voice mail system. At step 1, a callerutilizing her telephone 121 dials the telephone directory number of thesubscriber at the subscriber's telephone 124. At step 2 a, adetermination is made at the subscriber's switch 114 as to whether thecall is answered. If the call is answered, the method ends. If the callis not answered a determination is made as to whether a Call ForwardingNo Answer feature is activated or whether a Call Forwarding on Busyfeature is activated. It should be understood by those skilled in theart, if a Call Forwarding No Answer feature is activated, then callsdirected to the subscriber's telephone directory number are forwarded tothe voice mail system 165 if the call to the subscriber is not answered.If the Call Forwarding on Busy feature is activated then calls directedto the subscriber's telephone directory number are forwarded to thevoice mail system 165 if the subscriber's line 120 is busy.

[0050] If the call to the subscriber is forwarded because the line isnot answered or because the line is busy, as described, at step 2 b, apublic office dialing plan (PODP) trigger is fired at the subscriberswitch 114 causing a query to be launched to the service control point142. At step 3, SCP 142 checks the remote call monitoring service statuson the subscriber's line 120. If the remote call monitoring status isset to ON, the SCP checks for a remote call monitoring directory numberand for remote call monitoring service filter settings provided by thesubscriber. If the remote call monitoring status is set to OFF, themethod proceeds in accordance with the steps described with reference toFIGS. 5 or 6, described below.

[0051] If the remote call monitoring status is set to ON, the servicecontrol point retrieves the remote call monitoring directory number, thevoice mail system 165 access number and remote call monitoring servicefilter settings provided by the subscriber. The remote call monitoringdirectory number may be a directory number associated with any telephonefrom which the subscriber would like to monitor calls directed to thevoice mail system 165, including the subscriber's local telephone 124.At step 4, the SCP 142 routes to the services node 158 the calling partydirectory number, the subscriber directory number, the remote callmonitoring directory number and the voice mail system 165 access number.

[0052] At step 5, the services node 158 sets up a call between thecaller from the caller's telephone 121 and the voice mail system 165through the central office switch 116. At step 6, the services node 158bridges the subscriber into the call between the calling party and thevoice mail system 165 via the subscriber's wireless telephone 155. Asshould be understood, the subscriber may be connected via anothertelephone including another wireless telephone or another wire linetelephone. The illustration of the wireless telephone 155 is forpurposes of example only. In order to bridge the subscriber into thecall between the calling party and the voice mail system 165, theservices node 158 calls the remote call monitoring directory number ofthe subscriber's wireless telephone 155 as previously provided by thesubscriber. The service control point obtains from the CNAM database 148a caller identification name of “remote call monitoring” and passes thatcaller identification information to the subscriber at the wirelesstelephone 155 so that the subscriber will recognize that the call fromthe services node 158 is from the remote call monitoring service.

[0053] When the subscriber answers a call from the services node 158 atthe subscriber's wireless telephone 155, the subscriber is bridged intothe call between the caller and the voice mail system 165 so that thesubscriber may listen to the message being recorded by the caller inorder to screen or monitor the call. According to a preferredembodiment, once the subscriber answers the call from the services node158 an announcement is placed to subscriber such as “remote callmonitoring, to talk to the caller press 1.” Monitoring of the incomingvoice mail message may be set for a duration equal to the amount of timeavailable to the caller for leaving a voice mail message to thesubscriber. That is, if the caller may leave a message up to a length of120 seconds, then the subscriber may listen to the recording of thevoice mail message for up to 120 seconds.

[0054] If the subscriber presses 1, for example, in response to theprompt from the services node 158, the services node 158 routes the callto the switch 114 through the public switch telephone network 110through the wireless network 150 and to the subscriber at the wirelesstelephone 155. Once the services node routes the call to the subscriber,the connection between the caller, the services node 158, and the voicemail system 165 is terminated, and the caller is left in communicationwith the subscriber at the subscriber's wireless telephone 155 accordingto well-known call processing methods.

[0055] According to an alternative embodiment, the subscriber maysubscribe to a distinctive ringing service whereby the subscriber maystore and select the remote call monitoring directory number forpresentation with a distinctive ring anytime that number is dialed. Asis known to those skilled in the art, distinctive ringing services allowa subscriber to select certain numbers for presentation with distinctiverings. For example, if the subscriber selects a close friend's telephonedirectory number as a distinctive ringing number, when the subscriberreceives a telephone call from that telephone directory number, thesubscriber is presented with a distinctive ring that alerts thesubscriber to the identity of that caller. According to an embodiment ofthe present invention, the caller may select the remote call monitoringservice directory number associated with the services node 158 fortreatment with a distinctive ring. Accordingly, when the subscriberreceives a remote call monitoring service call from the services node158, as described above, the subscriber will receive a distinctive ringto alert the subscriber that the incoming call is a remote callmonitoring service call.

[0056]FIG. 5 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring calls directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is on a listof calling parties always to be monitored. At step 7, a caller utilizingher telephone 121 dials the telephone directory number of the subscriberat the subscriber's telephone 124. At step 8 a, a determination is madeat the subscriber's switch 114 as to whether the call is answered. Ifthe call is answered, the method ends. If the call is not answered adetermination is made as to whether a Call Forwarding No Answer featureis activated or whether a Call Forwarding on Busy feature is activated.If the call to the subscriber is forwarded because the line is notanswered or because the line is busy, at step 8 b, a PODP trigger isfired at the subscriber switch 114 causing a query to be launched to theservice control point 142. At step 9, the SCP 142 checks the remote callmonitoring service status for the subscriber's line 120. The SCP 142also checks for the remote call monitoring directory number provided bythe subscriber and for any filtering settings provided by thesubscriber.

[0057] According to the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the SCP 142determines that the remote call monitoring service status is set to OFF.The SCP 142 next determines whether the calling party is on the “alwaysmonitor” list created by the subscriber by determining whether a callingparty identification for the calling party is on the “always monitor”list. According to an embodiment of the invention, the “always monitor”list may include a list calling party identifications associated withcalling parties whereby calls from any of the calling partyidentifications included on the “always monitor” list always invokeremote call monitoring services. The calling party identifications mayinclude calling party directory numbers, caller ID presentationindicator status of “private,” caller ID presentation indicator statusof “unknown” and/or a caller ID presentation indicator status of“out-of-area” as designated by the subscriber for inclusion on the“always monitor” list. According to this call flow, although the remotecall monitoring status is set to OFF, the SCP 142 routes the call to theservices node 158 for remote call monitoring treatment because thetelephone directory number associated with the incoming caller is on the“always monitor” list as prescribed by the subscriber.

[0058] At step 10, the SCP 142 routes to the services node 158 thecalling party directory number, the subscriber directory number, theremote call monitoring directory number and the voice mail system 165access number. At step 11, the services node 158 sets up a call betweenthe caller and the voice mail system 165 through the central officeswitch 116. At step 12, the services node 158 bridges the subscriberinto the call between the calling party and the voice mail system 165via the subscriber's wireless telephone 155.

[0059]FIG. 6 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is not on alist of calling parties to be monitored by a subscriber. At step 13, acaller utilizing her telephone 121 dials the telephone directory numberof the subscriber at the subscriber's telephone 124. At step 14 a, adetermination is made at the subscriber's switch 114 as to whether thecall is answered. If the call is answered, the method ends. If the callis not answered a determination is made as to whether a Call ForwardingNo Answer feature is activated or whether a Call Forwarding On Busyfeature is activated. If the call to the subscriber is forwarded becausethe line is not answered or because the line is busy, at step 14 b, aPODP trigger is fired at the subscriber switch 114 causing a query to belaunched to the service control point 142.

[0060] At step 14 c, the service control point 142 checks the remotecall monitoring status, the remote call monitoring directory number andfilter settings provided by the subscriber. According to the call flowillustrated in FIG. 6, the service control point 142 determines that theremote call monitoring service is set to OFF by the subscriber. Inresponse, the service control point determines whether the directorynumber associated with the incoming caller is on an “always monitor”list provided by the subscriber. According to the call flow illustratedFIG. 6, the service control point determines that the directory numberassociated with the incoming caller is not on the “always monitor” list.Because the caller is not on the “always monitor” list and because theremote call monitoring status is set to OFF by the subscriber, at step14 d, the service control point 142 sends an Authorize TerminationResponse message to the SSP 114 instructing the SSP to route the calldirectly to the voice mail system 165 so that the calling party mayleave a message for the subscriber. At step 15, the SSP 114 routes thecaller directly to the voice mail system 165.

[0061]FIG. 7 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is on a listof calling parties that should not be monitored by the subscriber. Atstep 16, a caller utilizing her telephone 121 dials the telephonedirectory number of the subscriber at the subscriber's telephone 124. Atstep 17 a, a determination is made at the subscriber's switch 114 as towhether the call is answered. If the call is answered, the method ends.If the call is not answered a determination is made as to whether a CallForwarding No Answer feature is activated or whether a Call ForwardingOn Busy feature is activated. If the call to the subscriber is forwardedbecause the line is not answered or because the line is busy, at step 17b, a PODP trigger is fired at the subscriber switch 114 causing a queryto be launched to the service control point 142.

[0062] At step 18, the service control point 142 checks the remote callmonitoring service status, the remote call monitoring directory number,and any remote call monitoring filter settings provided by thesubscriber. According to the call flow illustrated in FIG. 7, theservice control point determines that the remote call monitoring statusis set to ON. Next, the service control point 142 checks whether thecalling party identification associated with the caller is on a “nevermonitor” list provided by the subscriber. The “never monitor” list mayinclude a list calling party identifications associated with callingparties whereby calls from any of the calling party identificationsincluded on the “never monitor” list never invoke remote call monitoringservices. The calling party identifications may include calling partydirectory numbers, caller ID presentation indicator status of “private,”caller ID presentation indicator status of “unknown” and/or caller IDpresentation indicator status of “out-of-area” as designated by thesubscriber for inclusion on the “never monitor” list. If at step 18 theservice control point 142 determines that the caller identification ison a “never monitor” list, the method moves to step 19, and the servicecontrol point 142 routes the caller directly to the voice mail system165 where the caller may leave a voice mail message for the subscriber.

[0063]FIG. 8 illustrates a logical call flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the calling party is not on alist of calling parties designated by the subscriber that should neverbe monitored. At step 20, a caller utilizing her telephone 121 dials thetelephone directory number of the subscriber at the subscriber'stelephone 124. At step 21 a, a determination is made at the subscriber'sswitch 114 as to whether the call is answered. If the call is answered,the method ends. If the call is not answered a determination is made asto whether a Call Forwarding No Answer feature is activated or whether aCall Forwarding On Busy feature is activated. If the call to thesubscriber is forwarded because the line is not answered or because theline is busy, at step 21 b, a PODP trigger is fired at the subscriberswitch 114 causing a query to be launched to the service control point142.

[0064] At step 21 c, the service control point 142 checks the remotecall monitoring status, remote call monitoring directory number andfilter settings provided by the subscriber. According to the call flowillustrated in FIG. 8, the service control point 142 next determinesthat the remote call monitoring status for the subscriber's line 120 isset to ON. In contrast to the call flow illustrated at FIG. 7, theservice control point 142 next determines that the directory numberassociated with the incoming call is not on the “never monitor” list.Accordingly, the service control point 142 routes the calling partynumber, the subscriber number, the voice mail system access number andthe remote call monitoring directory number to the services node 158 forprocessing as is described for steps 4 through 6 of FIG. 4.

[0065]FIG. 9 illustrates a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for monitoring a call directed toa network-based voice mail system where the monitoring of calls directedto the voice mail system is dictated by a remote call monitoringschedule provided by the subscriber. At step 25, a caller utilizing hertelephone 121 dials the telephone directory number of the subscriber atthe subscriber's telephone 124. At step 26 a, a determination is made atthe subscriber's switch 114 as to whether the call is answered. If thecall is answered, the method ends. If the call is not answered adetermination is made as to whether a Call Forwarding No Answer featureis activated or whether a Call Forwarding On Busy feature is activated.If the call to the subscriber is forwarded because the line is notanswered or because the line is busy, at step 26 b, a PODP trigger isfired at the subscriber switch 114 causing a query to be launched to theservice control point 142.

[0066] At step 27, the service control point 142 checks the remote callmonitoring status of the subscriber's line 120, retrieves the remotecall monitoring directory number and checks for filter settings providedby the subscriber. The service control point 142 determines whether theremote call monitoring status is set to ON and determines whether anyfilter setting provided by the subscriber requires that call be routeddirectly to the voice mail system 165. For example, the service controlpoint checks to see that the directory number associated with theincoming call is not on the “never monitor” list. Next, the servicecontrol point 142 retrieves the remote call monitoring service scheduleprovided by the subscriber as described above with reference to FIGS. 2and 3. If remote call monitoring is not allowed according to the remotecall monitoring service schedule, the call is routed directly to thevoice mail system 165. For example, if the subscriber provided a remotecall monitoring service schedule requiring that remote call monitoringis only allowed between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., theservice control point 142 checks to determine whether the presentincoming call is between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. If not,the service control point 142 determines that the remote call monitoringis not allowed according to the remote call monitoring schedule, and thecall is routed directly to the voice mail system 165.

[0067] If remote call monitoring is allowed according to the remote callmonitoring schedule, at step 28, the service control point 142 retrievesthe remote call monitoring directory number, the calling party directorynumber, the subscriber directory number and a voice mail access numberfor provision to the services node 158. At steps 29 and 30, the servicecontrol point 142 routes the information to the services node 158, andthe services node 158 sets up the remote call monitoring session for thesubscriber, as described above with reference to FIG. 4.

[0068]FIG. 10 illustrates a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod system of the present invention for remotely monitoring a calldirected to a network-based voice mail system filtered based on whethercalls directed to the subscriber are forwarded on a “busy” status orwhether calls directed to the subscriber are forwarded on a “noanswered” status. At step 31, the calling party dials the subscriberfrom the caller telephone 121 to the subscriber telephone 124 via thesubscriber's line 120. At step 32 a, the Call Forwarding No Answer/CallForwarding On Busy service is activated. The Call Forwarding No Answerhas a forwarding number that is distinct from the forwarding number usedfor Call Forwarding On Busy. Both numbers cause a PODP trigger to befired at the subscriber's switch 114. It should be understood by thoseskilled in the art that the Call Forwarding No Answer services activatesif the subscriber's telephone does not answer after a prescribed numberof rings. The Call Forwarding On Busy service activates anytime thesubscriber's line is busy.

[0069] At step 32 b, the PODP query is launched in response to PODPtrigger, and at step 33, the query is received by the service controlpoint 142. At step 33, the service control point 142 checks the remotecall monitoring service status, the remote call monitoring directorynumber, and any remote call monitoring service filter settings providedby the subscriber. The service control point 142 determines whether theremote call monitoring service is set to ON and whether the caller isnot on a “never monitor” list. If remote call monitoring is otherwiseallowed for the present incoming call, service control point 142compares the forwarding directory number to the remote call monitoringservice assigned numbers for call forwarding no answer service versuscall forwarding busy service to determine if the call was forwardedbased on a “no answer” status or based on a “busy” status. As should beunderstood, if the PODP query has been forwarded to the service controlpoint 142 in response to “busy” status and the remote call monitoringdirectory number provided by the subscriber is a number associated withthe subscriber's telephone 124, then the service control point 142routes the call directly to the voice mail system because the subscribernecessarily may not listen to the voice mail message being recorded bythe incoming caller if the subscriber is engaged in the communicationusing the telephone 124 at the subscriber line 120.

[0070] At step 34, in either case of a “non answer” status or a “busy”status where the remote call monitoring directory number is other thanthe number associated with the busy subscriber line, the method proceedsto step 35, and the service control point 142 routes to the servicesnode 158 the calling party directory number, the subscriber directorynumber, the voice mail access number and the remote call monitoringdirectory number. At step 36, the services node 158 sets up thethree-way communication between the calling party, the voice mail system165 and the subscriber's remote telephone, such as the wirelesstelephone 155, as described above with reference to FIG. 4.

[0071] The call flow types described above with reference to FIGS. 4through 10 are described separately for purposes of ease of descriptiononly. According to a preferred embodiment, the service control point 142checks the remote call monitoring status and filter settings provisionedon the subscriber's line 120 each time the PODP query corresponding tothe remote call monitoring service is received. That is, each time anincoming call triggers the PODP query to initiate the remote callmonitoring service, the service control point checks the remote callmonitoring status and filter settings to determine how the remote callmonitoring service should be applied to the incoming call. Each time anincoming call triggers the PODP query to the service control point 142for provision of remote call monitoring services, a determination isfirst made as to whether the remote call monitoring status is set to ON.If the remote call monitoring status is set to OFF, the service callpoint 142 checks whether the directory number associated with theincoming caller is on a “always monitor” list such that the call willreceive remote call monitoring service even if the remote callmonitoring service is set to OFF.

[0072] If the remote call monitoring service is set to ON, the servicecontrol point determines whether the directory number of the incomingcaller is included on a “never monitor” list. If so, the call is routeddirectly to voice mail services, as described above with reference toFIG. 7. If the remote call monitoring status is set to ON and thedirectory number for the incoming caller is not on the “never monitor”list, the service control point 142 next determines whether remote callmonitoring is allowed relative to a remote call monitoring schedulingfilter, as described above with reference to FIG. 9. If remote callmonitoring is not allowed at the time of the incoming call, the call isrouted directed to voice mail system 165. If remote call monitoring isallowed at the time of the incoming call according to the remote callmonitoring schedule, then a determination is then made as to whether theremote call monitoring service has been invoked based on a “no answer”status or based on a “busy” status. As described above with reference toFIG. 10, if the remote call monitoring service has been invoked based ona “busy” status, a final determination is made as to whether the remotecall monitoring directory number provided by the subscriber is the samedirectory of the subscriber's telephone 124. If so, the incoming call isrouted directly to the voice mail system 165. If not, or if the remotecall monitoring service was invoked based on a “no answer” status, thenthe remote call monitoring is activated so that the subscriber maylisten to the voice mail message being recorded by the caller at thevoice mail system 165.

[0073] Referring to FIG. 11, according to an alternative embodiment ofthe present invention, a subscriber 450 may obtain the remote callmonitoring services from a telephone services provider that isindependent from the subscriber's home telephone services provider. Forexample, the subscriber may obtain her wireline or wireless telephoneservices from a telephone services provider that does not offer theremote call monitoring services of the present invention. A separate orindependent call monitoring services provider 420 may offer the remotecall monitoring services of the present invention, and thus, accordingto this embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber as anindependent remote call monitoring subscriber may obtain the remote callmonitoring services of the independent call monitoring servicesprovider.

[0074] Before the independent remote call monitoring subscriber 450 mayobtain the remote call monitoring services of the independent callmonitoring services provider 420, the subscriber must activate theservice from the independent call monitoring services provider inassociation with the subscriber's home telephone services provider 400.The subscriber contacts the independent callmonitoring services providerto order the independent remote call monitoring services. During theadministrative set up, as described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3,according to this embodiment of the present invention the subscriberprovides the independent call monitoring services provider the remotecall monitoring directory number from which the subscriber desires tomonitor telephone calls directed to the subscriber's home voice mailsystem. Additionally, the subscriber selects from the remote callmonitoring filters described above, and the subscriber prepares the“always monitor” list and the “never monitor” list if desired.Additionally, the subscriber may direct the independent call monitoringservices provider to allow the subscriber to monitor calls directed tothe subscriber's home voice mail system when the subscriber's line isbusy or is not answered.

[0075] Once the subscriber has activated the remote call monitoringservices 430 of the independent call monitoring services provider 420, atelephone directory number for Call Forwarding No Answer and a telephonedirectory number for Call Forwarding On Busy is provided to thesubscriber to, in turn, provide to the subscriber's home telephoneservices provider. Alternatively, the independent call monitoringservices provider may forward these directly to the home telephoneservices provider 400 as identified by the subscriber. Once the hometelephone services provider receives these forwarding numbers, the CallForwarding No Answer and/or Call Forwarding On Busy numbers associatedwith calls directed to the subscriber are changed to the forwardingnumbers provided by the independent call monitoring services provider.Accordingly, when telephone calls are directed to the subscriber'swireless or wireline telephone where a no answer or busy status isindicated, those telephone calls will be routed to the independent callmonitoring services provider for provision of remote call monitoringservices to the subscriber.

[0076]FIG. 12 illustrates a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod and system of the present invention for remotely monitoring acall directed to a network -based voice mail system of a subscriber'shome telephone services provider where the remote call monitoringservice is provided by an independent call monitoring services provider,separate from the subscriber's home telephone services provider. Forpurposes of describing FIG. 12, assume, for example, that the subscriberoperating a wireless telephone 155 operates the wireless telephone 155via a home telephone services provider 400 and obtains independentremote call monitoring services from an independent call monitoringservices provider 420, as illustrated in FIG. 11. For purposes of thisdescription, the wireless network 150, the MSC 152, the voice mailplatform 167, and the telephone 155 operate under the home telephoneservices provider 400. The ICM record database 149, the SCP 142, theswitches 112, 114, and the services node 158 are operated by theindependent call monitoring services provider 420. Additionally, asshould be understood by those skilled in the art, description of thisembodiment of the present invention with respect to a wireless telephone155 is by way of example only. The independent remote call monitoringservices of the present invention are likewise available and useful withrespect to wireline telephones, such as the wireline telephones 121 and124 described with reference to FIG. 1. That is, the subscriber may becalled at any telephone directory number (remote call monitoringdirectory number) of any wireless or wireline telephone with which shemay be connected to the three-way conference call for monitoring amessage being left at her voice mail system.

[0077] At step 37, a caller using her telephone 121 dials the telephonedirectory number of the subscriber at the subscriber's wirelesstelephone 155. At step 38 according to the present example, thesubscriber does not answer the wireless telephone 155, and accordingly,the Call Forwarding No Answer (CFNA) status is activated at thesubscriber's MSC switch 152. As described above, as part of theactivation of the independent remote call monitoring services, the CallForwarding No Answer and/or Call Forwarding On Busy (CFB) numbersassociated with the subscriber's telephone directory number are changedto numbers provided by the independent call monitoring services providerso that calls activating the CFNA or CFB status are forwarded to theindependent call monitoring services provider for providing remote callmonitoring services to the subscriber 450.

[0078] At step 39 a, once the CFNA status is incurred at thesubscriber's MSC 152, the directory number provided by the independentcall monitoring services provider causes the telephone call to beforwarded to the independent call monitoring services provider at aswitch of the independent telephone services provider such as the switch114. At step 39 b, the switch 114 launches a PODP query to the servicecontrol point 142. At step 39 c, the service control point 142 parsesthe PODP query from the switch 114 and determines that the query isassociated with independent remote call monitoring services of thesubscriber.

[0079] The service control point 142 queries the independent callmonitoring records database 149 for information associated with thesubscriber for providing remote call monitoring services to thesubscriber. The service control point 142 retrieves from the recordsdatabase 149 the voice mail system access number for the subscriber'shome voice mail platform 167 to which the incoming call will be directedif the subscriber does not answer the incoming telephone call. At step39 d, the service control point 142 routes to the services node 158 ofthe independent call monitoring services provider the calling partydirectory number, the subscriber's directory number, and the voice mailsystem access number for the home voice mail platform 167.

[0080] At step 40, the services node 158 sets up a call between theincoming caller from the caller's telephone 121 and the home voice mailplatform 165 of the subscriber's home telephone services providerthrough the MSC switch 152. At step 41, once the incoming caller isconnected to the voice mail platform 167, the services node 158 sets upa three-way conference call between the incoming caller, the home voicemail platform 167 and the subscriber by placing a call to the subscriberat the remote call monitoring telephone directory number provided by thesubscriber and by connecting the subscriber to the communication betweenthe incoming caller and the home voice mail platform 167. As describedabove, the subscriber is connected to the call between the incomingcaller and the voice mail platform 167 in a “listen only” mode so thatthe subscriber may listen to the message being left at her home voicemail platform 167 by the incoming caller. Additionally, as describedabove with reference to FIG. 4, the subscriber may interrupt the messagebeing left by the incoming caller to the subscriber's home voice mailsystem 167, and the services node 158 will route the call to thesubscriber at the remote call monitoring directory number, and theconnection between the caller, the services node 158 and the voice mailsystem 167 is terminated so that the incoming caller is left in directcommunication with the subscriber at the subscriber's remote callmonitoring directory number.

[0081] As described above with respect to other embodiments of thepresent invention, a caller identification name such as “callmonitoring” may be provided to the subscriber to alert the subscriberthat the call is associated with remote call monitoring services.Likewise, the subscriber may be provided with a distinctive ring toalert the subscriber that the incoming call is a call associated withremote call monitoring services. Additionally, as should be understood,the remote call monitoring filters including utilization of “alwaysmonitor” and “never monitor” lists are available to the subscriber viathe services of the independent call monitoring services provider 420,as described above with referenced FIGS. 4 through 10.

[0082] As described, methods and systems are provided for monitoringcalls routed to a voice mail system from a variety of remote telephonelocations. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations may be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Otherembodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in theart from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention described herein.

I claim:
 1. A method of remotely monitoring calls routed to a voice mailsystem, comprising the steps of: receiving a call from a calling partyat a subscriber's switch; determining whether the call should beforwarded to the voice mail system; if the call should be forwarded tothe voice mail system, querying a first network element to determinewhether remote call monitoring services are provisioned on asubscriber's line; at the first network element, determining whetherremote call monitoring services should be applied to the call; and ifremote call monitoring services are provisioned on the subscriber's lineand should be applied to the call, causing a second network element toset up a three-way communication between the calling party, the voicemail system and the subscriber via a remote call monitoring directorynumber provided by the subscriber from which the subscriber may monitorcalls directed to the voice mail system.
 2. The method of claim 1,whereby if remote call monitoring services are provisioned on thesubscriber's line, but remote call monitoring services are not selectedfor application to incoming calls at a time of receiving the call,further comprising the steps of: determining whether a calling party'sidentification for the calling party is on an “always monitor” listprovided by the subscriber; if the calling party's identification is noton the “always monitor” list, forwarding the call to the voice mailsystem; if the calling party's identification is on the “always monitor”list, causing a second network element to set up a three-waycommunication between the calling party, the voice mail system and thesubscriber via a remote call monitoring directory number provided by thesubscriber from which the subscriber may monitor calls directed to thevoice mail system.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereby the “alwaysmonitor” list includes a list calling party identifications associatedwith calling parties whereby calls from any of the calling partyidentifications included on the “always monitor” list always invokeremote call monitoring services; and whereby the calling partyidentifications include calling party directory numbers, a caller IDpresentation indicator status of “private,” a caller ID presentationindicator status of “unknown” and a caller ID presentation indicatorstatus of “out-of-area” if any of said calling party directory numbers,caller ID presentation indicator status of “private”, caller IDpresentation indicator status of “unknown,” or caller ID presentationindicator status of “out-of-area” are designated by the subscriber forinclusion on the “always monitor” list.
 4. The method of claim 3,whereby if remote call monitoring services are provisioned on thesubscriber's line, and remote call monitoring services are selected forapplication to incoming calls at a time of receiving the call, furthercomprising the steps of: determining whether the calling party'sidentification is on the “always monitor” list provided by thesubscriber; if the calling party's identification is on the “alwaysmonitor” list, causing a second network element to set up the three-waycommunication between the calling party, the voice mail system and thesubscriber via a remote call monitoring directory number provided by thesubscriber from which the subscriber may monitor calls directed to thevoice mail system; if the calling party's identification is not on the“always monitor” list, determining whether the calling party'sidentification is on a “never monitor” list; if the calling party'sidentification is on the “never monitor” list, forwarding the call tothe voice mail system; if the calling party's identification is not onthe “never monitor” list, retrieving a remote call monitoring servicesschedule provided by the subscriber; and determining whether remote callmonitoring services are allowed at a time of receiving the call from thecalling party according to the remote call monitoring services schedule.5. The method of claim 4, whereby the “never monitor” list includes alist calling party identifications associated with calling partieswhereby calls from any of the calling party identifications included onthe “never monitor” list never invoke remote call monitoring services;and whereby the calling party identifications include calling partydirectory numbers, a caller ID presentation indicator status of“private,” a caller ID presentation indicator status of “unknown” and acaller ID presentation indicator status of “out-of-area” if any of saidcalling party directory numbers, caller ID presentation indicator statusof “private,” caller ID presentation indicator status of “unknown” orcaller ID presentation indicator status of “out-of-area” are designatedby the subscriber for inclusion on the “never monitor” list.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, whereby if no remote call monitoring servicesschedule is provided by the subscriber, causing a second network elementto set up a three-way communication between the calling party, the voicemail system and the subscriber via the remote call monitoring directorynumber provided by the subscriber from which the subscriber may monitorcalls directed to the voice mail system.
 7. The method of claim 5,whereby the step of determining whether remote call monitoring servicesare allowed at a time of receiving the call from the calling partyincludes comparing the remote call monitoring services schedule to thedate and time of receiving the call from the calling party.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, whereby if remote call monitoring is allowedaccording to the remote call monitoring services schedule, causing anetwork element to set up a three-way communication between the callingparty, the voice mail system and the subscriber via the remote callmonitoring directory number provided by the subscriber from which thesubscriber may monitor calls directed to the voice mail system.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, whereby if remote call monitoring is not allowedaccording to the remote call monitoring services schedule, forwardingthe call to the voice mail system.
 10. The method of claim 1, prior tothe step of causing a second network element to set up the three-waycommunication between the calling party, the voice mail system and thesubscriber via the remote call monitoring directory number, determiningwhether the subscriber's line is busy; if the subscriber's line is busy,comparing the remote call monitoring directory number provided by thesubscriber with a subscriber's directory number from which the call isforwarded; if the remote call monitoring directory number is the same asthe subscriber's directory number, routing the call to the voice mailsystem; and if the remote call monitoring directory number is not thesame as the subscriber's directory number, causing a second networkelement to set up a three-way communication between the calling party,the voice mail system and the subscriber via a remote call monitoringdirectory number provided by the subscriber from which the subscribermay monitor calls directed to the voice mail system.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, whereby the first network element is an advanced intelligentnetwork service control point.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereby thestep of causing the second network element to set up a three-waycommunication between the calling party, the voice mail system and thesubscriber via the remote call monitoring directory number provided bythe subscriber from which the subscriber may monitor calls directed tothe voice mail system includes setting up the communication to theremote call monitoring directory number so that the subscriber maymonitor calls directed to the voice mail system in “listen-only” modeallowing the subscriber at the remote call monitoring directory numberto listen to the communication between the calling party and the voicemail system.
 13. The method of claim 1, prior to the step of causing asecond network element to set up a three-way communication between thecalling party, the voice mail system and the subscriber via the remotecall monitoring directory number, further comprising the steps of: atthe first network element, retrieving a remote call monitoring directorynumber provided by the subscriber; retrieving the subscriber's directorynumber; retrieving a voice mail system access number; and routing fromthe first network element, the remote call monitoring directory number,the subscriber's directory number, and the voice mail system accessnumber to the second network element.
 14. The method of claim 13,whereby the second network element is an advanced intelligent networkservices node.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofinterrupting the three-way communication between the calling party, thevoice mail system and the subscriber via the remote call monitoringdirectory number, and connecting the call from the calling party to thesubscriber at the remote call monitoring directory number to allow atwo-way communication between the calling party and the subscriber. 16.The method of claim 15, prior to the step of interrupting the three-waycommunication between the calling party, the voice mail system and thesubscriber via the remote call monitoring directory number, providing anannouncement to the subscriber via the remote call monitoring directorynumber instructing the subscriber as to how to interrupt the three-waycommunication in order to accept the call from the calling party via theremote call monitoring directory number.
 17. The method of claim 15,whereby the step of connecting the call between the calling party andthe subscriber via the remote call monitoring directory number includes:routing the call from the second network element to the remote callmonitoring directory number; and terminating the communication betweenthe calling party and the voice mail system.
 18. The method of claim 1,prior to the step of causing a second network element to set up athree-way communication between the calling party, the voice mail systemand the subscriber via remote call monitoring directory number,providing the subscriber a caller identification associated with theremote call monitoring services to alert the subscriber that an incomingcall is associated with remote call monitoring services.
 19. The methodof claim 1, prior to the step of causing a second network element to setup a three-way communication between the calling party, the voice mailsystem and the subscriber via the remote call monitoring directorynumber, providing the subscriber at the remote call monitoring directorynumber a distinctive ring to alert the subscriber that an incoming callis associated with remote call monitoring services.
 20. The method ofclaim 1, prior to receiving a call from the calling party at asubscriber switch, further comprising the steps of: contacting atelephone services provider to provision remote call monitoring serviceson a subscriber's line; retrieving a current remote call monitoringservices status for the subscriber's line; providing a subscriber withremote call monitoring services options; activating by a subscriber aremote call monitoring service on the subscriber's line; providing by asubscriber a remote call monitoring directory number; and activating aplurality of remote call monitoring filters.
 21. The method of claim 20,whereby the step of contacting a telephone service provider includescontacting the telephone services provider telephonically.
 22. Themethod of claim 21, whereby the step of contacting the telephoneservices provider telephonically includes providing a remote callmonitoring services feature code to the telephone services provider. 23.The method of claim 20, whereby the step of contacting the telephoneservices provider includes contacting the telephone services providervia an Internet-based Web site provided by the telephone servicesprovider.
 24. The method of claim 20, whereby the step of activatingremote call monitoring filters includes activating remote callmonitoring services for all calls directed to the subscriber's telephonedirectory number.
 25. The method of claim 20, whereby the step ofactivating remote call monitoring filters includes activating remotecall monitoring services only when the subscriber's line is busy. 26.The method of claim 20, whereby the step of activating remote callmonitoring filters includes providing an “always monitor” list thatincludes telephone directory numbers associated with calling parties,whereby calls from any of the telephone directory numbers included onthe “always monitor” list always invoke remote call monitoring services.27. The method of claim 20, whereby the step of activating remote callmonitoring filters includes providing an “never monitor” list thatincludes telephone directory numbers associated with calling parties,whereby calls from any of the telephone directory numbers included onthe “never monitor” list never invoke remote call monitoring services.28. The method of claim 20, whereby the step of activating remote callmonitoring filters includes providing a remote call monitoring scheduleincluding days and times during which call monitoring services may beprovided for calls forwarded to the voice mail system.
 29. The method ofclaim 1, whereby the step of receiving a call from a calling party at asubscriber's switch includes receiving the call at a subscriber's switchat a first telephone services provider; determining whether the callshould be forwarded to a voicemail system of the first telephoneservices provider; if the call should be forwarded to the voicemailsystem of the first telephone services provider, forwarding the call toa second telephone services provider for providing remote callmonitoring services; at the second telephone services provider, queryinga first network element to determine whether remote call monitoringservices are provisioned for the subscriber; at the first networkelement, determining whether remote call monitoring services should beapplied to the call; and if remote call monitoring services areprovisioned for the subscriber, and should be applied to the call,causing a second network element of the second telephone servicesprovider to set up a three-way communication between the calling party,the voicemail system of the first telephone services provider and thesubscriber via a remote call monitoring directory number provided by thesubscriber from which the subscriber may monitor calls directed to thevoicemail system of the first telephone services provider.
 30. A systemfor remotely monitoring calls routed to a voice mail system, comprising:a subscriber's switch operative to receive a call from a calling partyat; to determine whether the call should be forwarded to the voice mailsystem; to query a first network element to determine whether remotecall monitoring services are provisioned on a subscriber's line; thefirst network element operative to determine whether remote callmonitoring services should be applied to the call; if remote callmonitoring services are provisioned on the subscriber's line and shouldbe applied to the call, to retrieve a remote call monitoring directorynumber provided by the subscriber; to retrieve the subscriber'sdirectory number; to retrieve a voice mail system access number; and toroute the remote call monitoring directory number, the subscriber'sdirectory number, and the voice mail system access number to a secondnetwork element; and to cause the second network element to set up athree-way communication between the calling party, the voice mail systemand the subscriber via a remote call monitoring directory numberprovided by the subscriber from which the subscriber may monitor callsdirected to the voice mail system.
 31. The system of claim 30, wherebyif remote call monitoring services are provisioned on the subscriber'sline, but remote call monitoring services are not selected forapplication to incoming calls at a time of receiving the call, the firstnetwork element further operative: to determine whether the callingparty's directory number is on an “always monitor” list provided by thesubscriber; to forward the call to the voice mail system if the callingparty's directory number is not on the “always monitor” list; if thecalling party's directory number is on the “always monitor” list, tocause a second network element to set up a three-way communicationbetween the calling party, the voice mail system and the subscriber viaa remote call monitoring directory number provided by the subscriberfrom which the subscriber may monitor calls directed to the voice mailsystem.
 32. The system of claim 30, whereby if remote call monitoringservices are provisioned on the subscriber's line, and remote callmonitoring services are selected for application to incoming calls at atime of receiving the call, the first network element further operative:to determine whether the calling party's directory number is on a “nevermonitor” list; to forward the call to the voice mail system if thecalling party's directory number is on a “never monitor” list; toretrieve a remote call monitoring services schedule provided by thesubscriber if the calling party's directory number is not on the “nevermonitor” list; to determine whether remote call monitoring services areallowed at a time of receiving the call from the calling party accordingto the remote call monitoring services schedule; if remote callmonitoring is allowed according to the remote call monitoring servicesschedule, to cause a network element to set up a three-way communicationbetween the calling party, the voice mail system and the subscriber viathe remote call monitoring directory number provided by the subscriberfrom which the subscriber may monitor calls directed to the voice mailsystem; and if remote call monitoring is not allowed according to theremote call monitoring services schedule, to forward the call to thevoice mail system.
 33. The system of claim 30, whereby the first networkelement is an advanced intelligent network service control point andwhereby the second network element is an advanced intelligent networkservices node.
 34. The system of claim 30, the first network elementbeing further operative: to interrupt the three-way communicationbetween the calling party, the voice mail system and the subscriber viathe remote call monitoring directory number; and to connect the callfrom the calling party to the subscriber via the remote call monitoringdirectory number to allow a two-way communication between the callingparty and the subscriber.
 35. The system of claim 34, the second networkelement being further operative: to route the call from the secondnetwork element to the remote call monitoring directory number; and toterminate the communication between the calling party and the voice mailsystem.
 36. A method of remotely monitoring calls routed to a voice mailsystem, comprising the steps of: receiving a call from a calling partyat a subscriber's switch via the subscriber's home telephone servicesprovider; determining whether the call should be forwarded to the voicemail system of the home telephone services provider; if the call shouldbe forwarded to the voicemail system of the home telephone servicesprovider, forwarding the call to an independent call monitoring servicesprovider for providing remote call monitoring services for the call; atthe independent call monitoring services provider, querying a firstnetwork element to determine whether remote call monitoring services areprovisioned for the subscriber; at the first network element,determining whether remote call monitoring services should be applied tothe call; and if remote call monitoring services are provisioned for thesubscriber, and should be applied to the call, causing a second networkelement of the independent call monitoring services provider to set up athree-way communication between the calling party, the voicemail systemof the home telephone services provider and the subscriber via a remotecall monitoring directory number provided by the subscriber from whichthe subscriber may monitor calls directed to the voicemail system of thehome telephone services provider.
 37. The method of claim 36, prior tothe step of causing a second network element to set up a three-waycommunication between the calling party, the voice mail system of thehome telephone services provider and the subscriber via the remote callmonitoring directory number, further comprising the steps of: at thefirst network element, retrieving a remote call monitoring directorynumber provided by the subscriber; retrieving the subscriber's directorynumber; retrieving a voice mail system access number for the voice mailsystem of the home telephone services provider; and routing the remotecall monitoring directory number, the subscriber's directory number, andthe voice mail system access number from the first network element tothe second network element.
 38. The method of claim 36, prior toreceiving a call from the calling party, further comprising the stepsof: contacting the independent call monitoring services provider toprovision remote call monitoring services for the subscriber; providingthe independent call monitoring services provider a remote callmonitoring directory number from which the subscriber may monitor callsdirected to the voicemail system of the home telephone servicesprovider; providing the independent call monitoring services providerthe voice mail system access number for the voice mail system of thehome telephone services provider; and providing the home telephoneservices provider a forwarding telephone directory number for forwardinga call requiring remote call monitoring services to the independent callmonitoring services provider for providing remote call monitoringservices for the call.
 39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:providing the subscriber with remote call monitoring services options,said options including a plurality of remote call monitoring filters;and activating one or more of the plurality of remote call monitoringfilters.
 40. The method of claim 36, whereby the step of causing asecond network element of the independent call monitoring servicesprovider to set up a three-way communication between the calling party,the voicemail system of the home telephone services provider and thesubscriber via a remote call monitoring directory number provided by thesubscriber from which the subscriber may monitor calls directed to thevoicemail system of the home telephone services provider includessetting up the communication to the remote call monitoring directorynumber so that the subscriber may monitor calls directed to the voicemail system in “listen-only” mode allowing the subscriber at the remotecall monitoring directory number to listen to the communication betweenthe calling party and the voice mail system.
 41. The method of claim 36,further comprising the step of interrupting the three-way communicationbetween the calling party, the voice mail system and the subscriber viathe remote call monitoring directory number, and connecting the callfrom the calling party to the subscriber at the remote call monitoringdirectory number to allow a two-way communication between the callingparty and the subscriber.
 42. The method of claim 41, prior to the stepof interrupting the three-way communication between the calling party,the voice mail system and the subscriber via the remote call monitoringdirectory number, providing an announcement to the subscriber via theremote call monitoring directory number instructing the subscriber as tohow to interrupt the three-way communication in order to accept the callfrom the calling party via the remote call monitoring directory number.43. The method of claim 41, whereby the step of connecting the callbetween the calling party and the subscriber via the remote callmonitoring directory number includes: routing the call from the secondnetwork element to the remote call monitoring directory number; andterminating the communication between the calling party and the voicemail system of the home telephone services provider.
 44. The method ofclaim 39, whereby the step of activating one or more of the plurality ofremote call monitoring filters includes activating remote callmonitoring services for all calls directed to the subscriber's telephonedirectory number.
 45. The method of claim 39, whereby the step ofactivating one or more of the plurality of remote call monitoringfilters includes activating remote call monitoring services only whenthe subscriber's line is busy.
 46. The method of claim 39, whereby thestep of activating one or more of the plurality of remote callmonitoring filters includes providing an “always monitor” list thatincludes telephone directory numbers associated with calling parties,whereby calls from any of the telephone directory numbers included onthe “always monitor” list always invoke remote call monitoring services.47. The method of claim 39, whereby the step of activating one or moreof the plurality of remote call monitoring filters includes providing an“never monitor” list that includes telephone directory numbersassociated with calling parties, whereby calls from any of the telephonedirectory numbers included on the “never monitor” list never invokeremote call monitoring services.
 48. The method of claim 39, whereby thestep of activating one or more of the plurality of remote callmonitoring filters includes providing a remote call monitoring scheduleincluding days and times during which call monitoring services may beprovided for calls forwarded to the voice mail system.